


Altered Reflections: Going Beyond!

by happyisahabit



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: (Mentions of other characters) - Freeform, Alternate Universe - BNHA, Alternate Universe - My Hero Academia, ChibiVerb 2020, Everyone is friends, Gen, Soul Eater Reverse Resonance Bang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24886186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happyisahabit/pseuds/happyisahabit
Summary: When a training exercise goes wrong for a class of young Heroes-to-be, they must learn to fight together! Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid, Liz and Patti find themselves up against a foe with the dangerous Black Blood Quirk. With their teachers occupied by the cunning Villain Medusa, can they show Crona what it really means to be a Hero? Maka tries to Resonate!Written for ChibiVerb 2020 for my partner, the-ace-place!
Relationships: Maka Albarn & Crona
Comments: 9
Kudos: 15
Collections: Chibi! Reverse Resonance Bang 2020





	Altered Reflections: Going Beyond!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [the_ace_place](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_ace_place/gifts).



> THIS WAS FUN. I never write this many characters, so it was definitely a challenge. 
> 
> Please check out my partners AMAZING digital paintings. They're so, SO good. Vibrant color and great action and detail. Check it out!

“Alright, alright, you miscreants,” The Doctor says, shooing his students off the bus. Half of them glare and half giggle but his coworker Mjolnir just shakes her head. Her golden braids swing with the motion and she sighs as the last of their two classes jump out the door with a shout of excitement.

“Oh Franken,” she says. “You can’t call them that; they’re our kids!”

“Marie…” Franken draws out, staring at her with one eyebrow raised at her wording. There’s a quiet beat while he waits for it to sink in and her face steadily gets redder. The flush looks nice below her black and yellow eyepatch. “I’ll call them what I want until they’re Hero material. They’ve got a long way to go before they’re rescuing babies from burning buildings or anything.”

“You might be right, but that’s what this training camp is for,” Marie replies. She won’t look him in the eye right now- too embarrassed- but she looks out the bus window, as the motley crew of Heroes-In-Training clump together in their excitement. “They're still learning how to use their powers.”

-

“YES! Time to get this party started!” Black Star crows, throwing his hands in the air. His grin is a mile wide and his joints crack as he stretches.

“Idiot, this isn’t a party!” Maka says, mouth twisting into a frown. “We’re here to train, not have fun!”

“‘Course we’re here to train, but I don’t see why that can’t be fun,” he quips back. Electricity sparks on his hands and Maka’s eyes flatten and her hair starts to float, aura expanding.

“Hey, hey, cut it out,” Soul groans, interjecting but not trying to get between the pair. 

From the side, the Thompson twins laugh: Liz just a chuckle under her breath and Patti a full on belly-laugh. Tsubaki smiles weakly, hands out like she would also like to pause the rivalry in front of her. Kid just folds his arms and turns to face the forest outside the small campgrounds the bus had dropped them at.

Their class is under The Doctor’s supervision and the others at the training retreat- Kim, Jackie, Killik, Ox, Harvar, Clay and Akane- are under Mjolnir’s. Their first year at the academy had brought the two classes close, all of them on the Hero track. They’d gotten fortunate in their teacher assignments, too. Ms. Marie, or Mjolnir, was one of the country’s premier heroes and Dr. Stein was equally known for his brutal way of taking out Villains. There was a lot they could learn from the pair; their teamwork fostered friendship between the two classes and showed them ways vastly different Quirks could work in unison. 

Even within their class, they had found ways to bring out more in each other’s skills. Black Star and Tsubaki could use their lightning and shadow attacks to play off each other. No Villain could ignore Black Star with his loud mouth, bright hair and the blinding lightning that crackles around his body from his Quirk. While he makes his grand entrance, stunning foes into submission, Tsubaki slinks through the shadows behind him to secure the Villain’s defeat with her shadow weaponry.

Kid’s Reaper was the centerpiece of his and the Thompson twins’ trio; Liz’s Orient Quirk bent bullets to her will even as they whipped through the air while Patti’s Scope made her accurate from any distance. The three of them could locate and disable anyone from any distance once Kid honed in on the target’s life force. 

Maka and Soul on the other hand, at a glance, didn’t appear to have any sort of Quirk compatibility. Her Resonance harnessed potential energy within atoms, down to the electron level, enabling her to release bursts of power. Maka could use this to overpower an opponent so their Quirk turned against them, but she could also reduce the resonant level of their atoms and disable their Quirk. She was working on how to safely increase a partner’s power level now, and that was where Soul came in. Able to transform parts of his body into a scythe blade, he had the class Quirk that required the most work and effort since it wasn’t long range or had any special characteristics. It was just a blade, at least, until Maka applied Resonance to it.

Then, it was Witch Hunter.

The pair had only managed it two or three times. The amount of energy and effort it took Soul to transform completely into a scythe and the concentration it took Maka to both wield him and amplify his power was immense. For day to day Hero work, it was absolutely impractical. But this training camp was meant to push them to their limit, to make even the most difficult things become second nature. 

“Listen up, brats!” The two classes turn to give Dr. Stein their attention. “Throw your bags in the cabins over there and get out here, ready to train. It’s time for the obstacle course from hell.”

-

Crona looks out over the forest, twisting their fingers together nervously. It seems so peaceful- birds chirping and the sounds of summer lacing the air- yet all it does is fill Crona with anxiety. Or maybe that was the overbearing presence behind them.

“My dear Crona,” a low feminine voice cooes. “It’s time for you to show how much you love your mother.’

“B-but…” Wide blue eyes shift from side to side, wanting to look up but keeping their eyes on the ground. A pair of perfectly manicured feet in strappy black sandals is all they see, can bear to look at.

Suddenly, the woman sinks to a crouch, grabbing Crona’s face and forcing eye contact. Medusa’s yellow eyes seem to glow in the dimming light. “You wouldn’t be thinking of disobeying me, would you?”

Crona flinches and whimpers. “Of- of course not… Mother…”

Still, their eyes widen as Medusa’s other hand starts to pulse with light, the black tattoos on her arm slithering into a symbol on the palm of her hand. It reads Madness and a split second later, it is shoved harshly into Crona’s chest.

The world bleeds Black.

\--

“You come up with your Hero name yet?” 

The question startles Soul as he finishes stretching. He looks up to see Maka and Kid staring down at him, Maka stretching her shoulders and Kid straightening his tie. How he managed to wear a suit for this training camp is beyond Soul.

“Not really,” he mutters, concentrating on switching his arm from flesh and bone to a red and black steel. “I mean with a power like mine, how can you beat Deathscythe? And that’s already taken.”

Kid chuckles but Maka groans and pouts. It wasn’t much of a secret that she is the A-tier Hero’s beloved daughter, and Soul knows she hates the connection more than anything. Especially when people expect her to have the same Quirk. Instead, the only one in their class who can turn parts of their body into scythe blades is him. 

“What about you guys?”

Maka flushes for some reason, twisting her fingers together, and Kid looks thoughtful. Before either gets the chance to answer, however, a hand slaps Soul in the back so hard he can feel the throbbing from all five imprints of the person’s fingers individually.

“Mine is gonna be BLACK*STAR!”

“You idiot,” Maka reacts instinctively. “That’s just your name!” Still her nerves are gone, replaced by a condescending, if fond, smile at their friend’s antics. Maka and Black Star had gone to the same primary school before coming to Shibusen Academy, so aside from Patti and Liz who were sisters, they knew each other best. Their class is tight knit, though, so the often loud and playfully antagonistic friendship just fades to the background like their bickering voices do now.

There’s a pulse of a whistle and it breaks up the noise, pulling their attention back to the two teachers. The Doctor’s tall form, even slouching, makes Mjolnir look tiny by comparison. For two Heroes who couldn’t look and act more opposite, they made a surprisingly good team. Most of their lessons during their first year at SA was based on teamwork and working as part of a crew. In the field, most Heroes teamed up with various people in their respective Hero offices, sidekicks, and minor and major Heroes alike all had to know how to combine their Quirks with others to get the job done- safely and efficiently.

Hence, their combined class training camp.

The adults lay out the rules. The class starts to feel jittery, excitement rushing their veins at the thought of pushing their limits and not being afraid of damaging (and repairing) school property. Their first task is simple enough: find their way to a mini shrine located deep in the forest where several flags have been planted, and return the flags.

But the path to the shrine isn’t just a walk in the woods. An obstacle course is woven into the forest; traps and tricks are around the corner. Tomorrow’s exercise would involve similar tasking, but their teachers and fellow students would work against them in turns.

Maps are distributed and they all get their last bit of stretching in as the teachers stand between them and the edge of the wooded expanse ahead. Maka and Black Star both bounce on their toes, ready to break into a run; Patti already is jogging in place herself. The rest of their class stands still, more reserved. Ms. Marie’s class preps in their own ways, bantering yet focused.

Dr. Stein tilts his head a little and one of his bizarre little grins takes over his face. The whistle blows and off they all go.

-

“I’ve sent Crona ahead as a distraction. It’s time for you three to move ahead with the plan.” Medusa stands, dusting off her leggings. “I have it on good authority that SA is running a training exercise for their baby do-gooders today. They shouldn’t prove much of a threat, but avoid them if you can.”

Eruka, Free and Mizune stand behind her.

“Get to the shrine, complete the experiment, get out.”

“And if the brats do cause a problem?” Free asks. Medusa turns to them, an evil glint in her eye.

“Eliminate them.”

-

Kid is glad to be the fastest one in class, or at least the fastest on this type of terrain. The Thompson sisters can keep pace with him, using a variety of parkour style tricks to keep moving across the uneven and root-tangled ground of the forest. While Black Star undoubtedly is the speediest of their class, his movements are all straight lines and zigzags that work best in open areas. Here in the forest, Kid’s agility is best.

Their group of three is a subcell in the class, preferring to work together due to similarities in their attack methods. They’re long range attackers and it definitely had made them bond.

The dappled light in the forest doesn’t affect their vision much, tuned as they are to take in their whole field of view in a moment’s glance. It’s been very useful as they’ve also been able to spot some of the more obvious traps. The trees and ground are lively greens and deep browns, and if Kid wasn’t on a mission, he would probably enjoy sitting in a clearing, just listening to the breeze rustling the leaves.

Well, it would be enjoyable with his eyes closed, that is. There are too many things that could be considered ‘out of place’ and too many opportunities for uneven counts of things- bugs, leaves, trees, roots…

He shakes his head, needing to refocus. They’re moving too fast for him to not pay attention. As they skirt another clearing and from the corner of his eye, he catches a flash of pink.

“Didja see that?” Patti calls from the left, behind him. “Somethin’ pink! Like a piggy!”

“What would something like that be doing here?” Liz asks, a frown taking over her pretty face. She doesn’t stop moving, though. “Kid?”

“I’m not sure,” he responds. “Let’s keep going. If it follows us, we’ll deal with it.”

-

In theory, Tsubaki could get from one end of the forest to the other in a few minutes using her Quirk. It would be very tiring, though, to travel through the shadows of the trees as they weren’t fully formed yet; the day has always slowed her down. So she keeps pace with Black Star, even as he sets off nearly every spear-dodge, net trap, and pitfall between them and the shrine.

Not that they really slow him down.

Her shadow blades and his electricity type Quirk make fast work of physical obstacles. Tsubaki wonders not for the first time if he has two Quirks, the second being Sheer Will Power. She giggles to herself at the private joke even as she leaps over the next deep pit dug into the ground that Black Star has fallen into. He scrambles out like a spider monkey, unfazed and still grinning.

They go another 15 or 20 yards when Black Star, the unstoppable force, slows to a halt. His head is tilted to the side, listening, and Tsubaki pauses with him. Her ocean-colored eyes narrow and she waits for whatever it is that he’s stopped for. 

“Unsteady steps…” he mutters, still listening. Then he turns to her, face full of determination. “That isn’t somebody in our class.”

“You think it’s trouble?”

“Dunno, but if they’re looking to hurt my friends they’re gonna  _ be _ in trouble!”

-

Maka wasn’t slow. She is probably the fastest girl in their class when they partook in sprints and races, but she is supposed to stay with her partner, and the forest’s overgrown floor is not flat as the pounded dirt of the school’s track. She knows that Soul is the slowest out of everyone in their small class, mostly because he isn’t as lanky as Kid or as light-footed as Black Star. All of the girls including herself are at least a little taller than Soul. He always grumbles whenever Liz or Patti tease him about finally getting a growth spurt; he made sure to point out that his brother was tall so he would be, too.

Still, Maka knows that if his arms or legs are readied blades, he’s much slower than usual. As his Quirk is the only one that can cut through the cargo nets that try to catch them or the ropes that attempt to clothesline them into next week, she can’t complain. Her Quirk is almost useless here, anyway, which just makes  _ her _ grumpy. The obstacle course is more arduous for her than anyone else in the class and it just makes her grit her teeth and push herself harder.

There’s nothing to Resonate with that will make this easier. She stretches her senses out as far as she can, hoping to figure out where the next trap is. Maybe they can avoid it and make up some time. Maka figures that Black Star isn’t too far ahead since he absolutely would be tripping all kinds of obstacle triggers. She finds she’s right, he’s only ahead a little bit!

And he’s… stopped?

“Soul!” she calls out, jumping over to run-jog beside him. He’s sweating a bit already, trying to shake his arm out of the red and black scythe shape while still running. “Star is up ahead, but he isn’t moving.”

“Y’think he got stuck in something?” Soul pants.

“Maybe,” she says, concentrating harder. “But there’s… Tsubaki is with him and… someone else.”

Soul looks like he’s going to say something back when the hairs on the back of Maka’s neck raise in the way they usually do when Black Star preps for a big attack. The loud boom that follows a moment later confirms it and Soul’s mouth clacks shut. 

“Well,” she grins at him. “Let’s go find out, huh?”

“You got it!”

-

After their almost-encounter with the pink-haired person wandering the woods, Kid switches them to nonverbal cues. There’s no telling if the person is alone or what they are doing there. While he’d love to be optimistic and assume that they’re just lost and innocent, this training ground of his father’s is too remote.

It’s private property and the shrine in the woods that they’re supposed to head to isn’t just a little wooden house for an icon. It’s not common knowledge.

He knows that their teachers are aware of the true nature of the shrine, but it’s unlikely that anyone else knows that his father had imprisoned someone there with his Quirk. A dangerous Villain, he’d always been told, someone whose Quirk was Madness. The ability to force anyone into a berserker-like state, willing to kill and maim anyone and everyone, even those that you care for most in the world, is Madness. Still, there are things that don’t add up for Kid, even with his privilege.

Why hadn’t the authorities taken this character into custody? Why did his father seal them instead of destroy them? Why was his father invested in keeping them here?

And who are these three trespassers?

Kid signs for the sisters to stop and they do, quickly and silently taking posts hidden in the trees. He appreciates that about them, their teamwork and their trust. Their eyes are just as good as his life force sensing abilities as he narrows in on the three figures approaching the shrine. Two women and one very bulky man, all dressed in dark colors. The silvery blue-haired woman carries a large suitcase. 

The other woman slumps and morphs, splitting into smaller versions of herself with long sharp looking whiskers. A Copy type Quirk? They all have the same feeling and color to their life force when he looks with his Quirk. The blue one speaks to the man while the small copies spread out in the small open area near the shrine. The six flags planted in the ground for the students are left alone. The man steps forward and moves his hands in a few gestures. A glowing doorway opens, lighting up the seal barrier that had been invisible before. The paper markers and carefully tied rope around the shrine shimmers as the blue-haired woman walks through the bright arch. 

Kid is too far to see past her into the distorted space, but his skin crawls and a cold sweat breaks out over instant gooseflesh. He thinks for a moment it is just a reaction from his Quirk, but Liz murmurs his name tremulously from his right; she looks pale as a ghost. Even Patti’s pallor is greyed under her wild wide eyes. He shushes them quietly, still trying to make out the shapes in the dark past the white-blue lines the man holds open. 

The woman opens the suitcase and retrieves a large syringe, but he can’t tell what it is filled with. It’s just as dark as the shadows within the sealed space.

“Kid…” Patti calls from his side, antsy. 

Liz shifts too, but more likely because she is uncomfortable and unsure. “If we’re going to do something…” she trails off.

He knows. They’re the only team here and they’re the only long range fighters. They have surprise on their side. There can be nothing good happening inside the sealed space.

-

The Doctor looks out over the forest, brow furrowing at the flock of birds screeching and flying away. While a loud crash or boom here and there is expected from his students- certainly Black Star alone could create such noises- there is something not right about this. Mjolnir steps next to him with a tense look in her single golden eye. They wait another few minutes, listening, watching.

The earth rumbles and the hairs on the back of his neck rose. Something isn’t right.

He barely has to flick his gaze down to his short partner before they were off. They run through the trees quickly as they canalong an intercepting path to the obstacle course. The shaking of the ground and the noises of a far off battle presses them to go farther until something twinges the back of The Doctor’s awareness. Throwing himself to the side, he tackles Mjolnir out of the way, rolling so he takes the brunt of the fall. 

Where they would have been, a glowing purple snake-like energy chain is rooted, fangs deep into the ground. 

“Well, if it isn’t The Doctor,” a dark feminine voice coos from the shadows. “I’m running a little experiment right now, so as a fellow person of science, could you stay out of it?” 

A woman emerges from the shadows, purple and black energy chains writhing around her like a pit of vipers. Medusa, a top tier Villain and on the Most Wanted list- dead or alive.

The Doctor and Mjolnir stand in defensive positions. Whatever their students have gotten themselves into, they are on their own. Medusa is too big of a threat for them to ignore.

She grins at them. “I’d just hate for you to ruin my control group.”

-

“Just who is this kid?” Black Star complains, skidding back. He’s sure that his attack connected, but aside from a flinch and a rather pathetic whimper, there was no reaction. Tsubaki is somewhere behind him and he doesn’t really expect much of a response from her. When they’d found the pink-haired person in the clearing, looking unsure of themselves, they thought it was just a case of getting lost in the forest.

Very lost.

The pair had approached with caution, ready to extend a helping hand, as all good Heroes should. Then, a black dagger was drawn and the kid had opened a vein. The liquid was not red.

Black Star feels justified in his reactions from this point on. The black replacement for blood manifests shapes and hurts like hell when he gets whipped across the face with it. After getting smacked around for a minute, he regains his bearings and falls back into formation with Tsubaki. He is loud and brash, he knows, so he’s the vanguard, the distraction, in almost every team up in the class. He has power, a lot of it, to do physical damage and the constitution to take a beating.

That’s why Tsubaki melds into his shadow, ready to bind the new threat. Because everyone looks at him, notices him, so she can slip between the cracks and get the job done.

A tremulous voice speaks when Black Star gets close enough.

“If I don’t do this,” the voice whispers, “I’ll get scolded…”

It’s just enough to get Black Star to stutter-step, to pause and reconsider this potential Villain as a civilian again. Tsubaki vibrates in his shadow, cautious as ever.

“... and I just  _ hate  _ that.” The soft voice turns hard and cracks. The black blood coalesces and knits a net around the frail-looking body half a step from Black Star. He’s thrown back when it expands, but nets have holes.

Tsubaki slips through it, racing into the pink-haired one’s shadow and twining up to hold them in place. She rematerializes back into the light, until only her inky hair still connected to the bindings. In her hand is a dark tanto, the flat of it pressed against the person’s thin neck.

“Please stop, we can discuss this rationally and help if something is wrong,” she says, soft but sure. 

The figure just laughs, starting from small huffs until it turns to a full-blown maniacal fit.“Stop?” they say, twisting in Tsubaki’s shadows. They weren’t supposed to be moving. Black Star knows that no one can overpower her submission holds. “If I stop-” They raise their hand to press a black-stained finger to Tsubaki’s face, making her flinch back in surprise, the tanto pressing a new line of black into the skin on their neck. “If I don’t do this, hurt you, then who-?”

Tsubaki drops her tanto which disintegrates into nothingness; her shadows recede from their bindings back into her dark hair. The black blood user runs a finger over their new wound and inspects the dark droplets. They bounce erratically under their baby blue gaze until they freeze in tiny icicles of pure pitch.

“Who would want me then?”

The little black needles shoot for Tsubaki, who only just dodges them. They embed into a tree where not a moment later, Maka and Soul stumble out of the underbrush. Black Star feels somehow relieved.

“‘Bout time you showed up,” he huffs at the pair. “You oughta be quicker, idiot.”

“Shut up, Star!” Maka blurts, a knee-jerk reaction. It makes him laugh, but the undulating ropes of black blood in front of him mean he can’t look at her indignant expression that’s surely all puffed up cheeks and angry green eyes. “I sensed…”

“Yeah,” he confirms. Tsubaki is on the fringe of the clearing and while Black Star hates to admit it, they may need more help. “Tsubaki!”

“Yes!” she snaps her attention to him, but does not move or let down her guard.

“Go tell the Doc what’s up,” he says. “We got this covered.”

“But Black Star…” Tsubaki trails. They’re supposed to stay together and she’s the only one who has a Quirk suited for submission, even if it hadn’t worked all that well before. He can see it in the way her eyes flick to Maka that she wants to try again, with a power boost courtesy of their volatile blonde friend. 

“You can move the fastest,” Maka cuts in, for once on his wavelength. Black Star can still see hesitation in Tsubaki’s frame. Their opponent is being very patient with them.

“Tsubaki, go!” he calls. She nods and starts to sink down into the shadows.

“Be careful, all of you.”

She’s gone in the next moment, and Maka and Soul step up next to him.

-

Liz presses the back of her head against the tree she’s hidden behind. They haven’t moved from their spot in almost fifteen minutes and the three strangers are still there. She tries to calm her racing pulse, but she saw their lips move and had caught phrases like, ‘Medusa’s dirty work,’ ‘resurrect this freak,’ and ‘inject the black blood’. Absolutely  _ nothing _ about that sounds good. 

She doesn’t know why Kid is not charging forward; they have more than enough information to understand that these people are bad, that what they’re doing can’t be right. Then again, would they be able to out match them? If she had to gauge their chances based on Kid’s posture, she’d give them a 35% chance. For a team specializing in 100% accuracy and efficiency, that is simply not good enough.

Liz knows her sister would go for it; she doesn’t have a chance of missing any shot she takes with her Quirk. Liz could make it, too, bending projectiles and guiding Kid’s life force ‘bullets’ towards their enemy. But Kid is their de facto leader, and everything from his pale, pale face to the clenched fingers, from the beading sweat on his neck to the unnatural stiffness of his spine shows that he will not make a move.

There’s something he sees with his Quirk- that he feels- that terrifies him.

Then, Liz feels it herself. Almost as if there is a tilt to the world, a bending of the space around them so it is just a little off, a little twisted, a little  _ wrong _ . Her equilibrium is off and she falters from her position to glimpse the shrine again.

The blue haired woman- Eruka, if Liz’s lip-reading is right- clutches an empty syringe as she backs out of the blue-white arc of light that cuts through the dimensional space of the shrine. The mousy clones reform into the second woman and the man draws his hands in another motion, lighting up the ground beneath them. Eruka shoves the suitcase and syringe to the woman and leans forward. Her hair is a blue shield that Liz can’t see through but suddenly there’s a frog hopping around. 

The frog hops onto a particularly wavy part of the blue-white sigil on the ground and vanishes. A moment later, it returns with a blonde woman that Liz immediately recognizes from their study of famous Villains still at large: Medusa. 

Kid finally moves, about to attack, about to take a stand-

The light is blinding for half a second, then they are gone. 

Liz releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding when the heavy presence of a wanted Villain like Medusa vanishes. But as she looks at Kid’s focus on the shrine, she can still feel that  _ something _ in the air and world around them. She gets the feeling that what they witnessed is just a precursor, the start of something awful.

-

Medusa eyes her opponents carefully. The ground around them is riddled with debris, uprooted trees and small fissures courtesy of the superhuman strength Mjolnir used. For such a short woman, she sure packs a lot of power behind her hammering fists. The Doctor is good too, cutting off her escape routes and strategizing on the fly to keep her on her toes. Mentally, Medusa counts how long it has been since she set Crona loose and ordered the three stooges to inject Crona’s Black Blood into the sealed being in the shrine.

It’s both not enough and too much time.

She can only hope that the two teacher/heros’ students are not up to task for real Hero work yet. She can’t abide any interference now. 

“Professor!”

From the edges of the forest, a body stumbles out of the shadows quite literally and Medusa finds herself intrigued, then irritated. It’s a student, which means she’s nearly run out of time. The girl is tall, but hunched over, panting and sweating heavily. Mjolnir runs to support her before she collapses. Clearly whatever her Quirk was, it took a lot out of her to use.

“There’s a -p-person,” she stutters over gasping breaths. “In the woods. They attacked us.”

So Crona had been engaged. That was part of the plan.

“Just calm down, Tsubaki, we’ll take care of it,” Mjolnir soothes, even as she glares at Medusa with her single eye. The Doctor’s stance is a bit too casual.

The two professors going up against Crona was not planned.

Medusa can only hope that the experiment at the shrine is complete. That is the most important part. She has enough stock of Black Blood to continue without Crona for the time-being.

“Well, dear Doctor, it seems that my time is up,” she sighs dramatically. “I so wished you had been alone; I’m sure that being a man of science, you’d appreciate my efforts and ambitions.”

He ratchets the screw on his head, subtly winding lines of wire around his hand. Medusa relaxes her stance and reaches inside herself for her Quirk. “Perhaps next time,” she smirks. All at once, Madness pulses out from her in sharp pointed tendrils, piercing through the three do-gooders. It doesn’t leave a physical wound, but the mental and psychological toll is perfect.

Medusa slips away as they all crumble to their knees, overcome with crazed, violent thoughts. There’s a small flash of white light, and then there is a small frog peers up at her with wide vacant eyes. The villainous woman’s lips curl into a wicked smile and she holds up the frog, which croaks once before the light appears again. This time, the shine is in the shape of a door.

-

Maka’s hands buzz from powering up Black Star’s electric attacks. They haven’t practiced together near as much, so when she amps up his power, he has split seconds to land his hit. Their timing is a little off and it’s unfortunately Black Star who pays the price. A thorny black vine wraps around him and squeezes, lifting him in the air.

“Black Star!” Soul yells, stumbling as close as he’s dared so far. The blue-haired boy struggles against the bindings futilely and curses up a storm. Maka starts charging forward, thinking that maybe, she can nullify the bizarre quirk instead of powering up her friend. Soul grabs her elbow and pulls her back, just as Black Star is thrown harshly across the clearing. He hits a tree and does not get up.

Soul makes a half-pained, half-aggravated noise next to Maka and she saves her fear for her friend. Maka banks worries and concerns for later and turns to the person across the field from her. Her hand pries Soul’s from her arm and holds it. “Let’s go, Soul.”

“What’s the plan? Nothing seems to be working,” he says, already pushing himself into a full scythe form. Maka starts counting the seconds he can hold it. She can only grin when she starts to Resonate the atoms in his red and black steel.

“No plan at all,” she admits. “Just gonna go with the flow.”

There’s a metallic tang to Soul’s snorting laughter and she pushes more energy into his blade and rushes forward. With a war cry, Maka dodges the lead-like arrows shooting out of their opponent’s veins. Soul’s scythe clashes against the liquid as if it was made of diamond and Maka wonders if the blade would even cut this person.

As it turns out, even Soul’s razor edge does not make a nick on them. Awkwardly bent over the pole, Maka uses the momentum to drag the person into her fist face-first. She regrets it for half a second after she hits, knuckles screaming that punching the human equivalent of a brick wall was not smart. Even then, she keeps the pink-haired person close enough to get a good look at the blue eyes staring wide at her.

“There’s no way I’m not gonna let you go!” she says defiantly. The person’s face twitches and they talk to themselves in dizzying circles.

“Ridiculous, don’t understand,” they murmur and giggle manically. “How can you touch me? Mother will be so- gotta kill this-” They break off into laughter. “You can’t hurt me! Nothing can!”

“Everyone has things that can hurt them,” Maka responds. Her green eyes burn with determination, locked on watery blue. Like a switch was flipped, the maddened expression cracks and the eyes droop from their wild stare as the pink-haired person slumps over the blade to get away from Maka and Soul.

“Leave me alone… I don’t understand…” they whisper. Maka keeps their gaze even as they try to turn away. “St-stop… you seem like someone with a strong will… don’t look at me like that.”

Maka leans forward, tugging Soul to make them look up again. “Probably because I’m stronger than you, so I can’t lose. I’m Maka.” A grin tugs on her face again. “What’s your name?”

They hesitate before answering, but they say anyway, “Crona.”

“Well, Crona, let’s get started, huh?”

The battle after that is just blurs of black and red, slicing through the green grass and lobbing off branches from nearby trees. Maka is vaguely aware of where Black Star is still slumped on the ground and tries to stay away from him, focusing Crona’s attacks elsewhere. The unfortunate part of using Resonance on Soul is that their limit is one WItch Hunter and when that wide blade of light fails to a tidal wave of black blood, their time limit is up.

Soul falls to the ground panting, barely able to move. He’s back in his normal human form and his fingers twitch from the reduced frequency of his atoms now that Maka is not longer touching him. The readjustment period takes his remaining strength and he falls in a dead faint. Maka is not much better, laid out next to him. 

She can hear the stumbling steps of Crona approaching. The sky above is darkened, the sun just set. Some little stars peak down at her in the first blues and purples of the night and Maka counts them along with Crona’s footsteps. A pale hand interrupts her view of the sky and Maka tilts her head to watch Crona manifest a long dark sword in their hand.

“If I don’t- I have to- Mother won’t take me back, you see?” Crona warbles. “Why are you still staring at me like that?”

Maka sees the second of hesitance, the tiny flinch behind their blue eyes and drags her hand up to clasp around Crona’s ankle.

“Crona,” she says lowly, fighting off fatigue. “Let my heart come in touch with your soul.”

Then, Maka Resonates.

-

Crona doesn’t understand.

They never understand, but somehow, this time it feels like they should. Their unsure nature doesn’t make it easy to make the connections between what is real and what is not. The feeling that washes over them is foreign, not like Mother’s Quirk, her love. This is something that’s the opposite, yet the same as Crona themselves.

It has to be Maka’s fault. 

What did she say? Her heart? Crona’s soul?

If they touched what would happen? Crona only knows they’re supposed to kill Maka, but where does that leave her heart and their soul?

The forest twists around them and the darkness recedes like the ocean at the shore. Crona stands there, in a well-drawn dirt circle they know is over their own making. There is nothing here in their barren soul, just empty skies and dirt where nothing grows. Inside the lines, though, nothing would come in, they could see for miles.

The only thing to do was talk to their shadow that whispers terrible things, that leads conversations in unending circles like the one they’ve drawn. Eventually, Crona doesn’t want to talk, but the whispers don’t stop; the questions are invasive and uncomfortable. Crona curls in on themselves, cries in their little self-made prison within a prison, until a bright voice catches their attention.

Green eyes and blonde hair in tight pigtails and a wide lop-sided smile kick away the drawn line even when Crona tries to redraw it. Small hands reach out and Crona is tempted for the first time to reach out themselves.

Crona blinks and the wide skies and barren wasteland is gone. They’re in a green forest full of life under the gentle light of stars and the bright gaze of emerald. The hands reaching for them are filled with white light and the lopsided grin is pulled open into a determined yell.

“Crona!”

Only instinct pulls a flimsy shield of Black Blood up in front of them, but it isn’t enough, or Crona doesn’t want it to be enough. Because the white light emanating from Maka’s hands is warm,  _ so warm _ , and Crona wants to let it touch them. So the Black Blood lets it through and greets Maka’s power like an old friend.

Maka catches them before they fall to the ground, pushing a few uneven pieces of pink hair from their pale face. “I’ve got you, Crona,” she says, on the verge of falling asleep herself. Crona wants to drift off, comfortable and quiet for the first time in ages. “I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Crona takes her at her word.

-

The forest is quiet at night. Maka gazes aimlessly into the darkened trees. She feels light-headed from using her Quirk so much. Soul is somewhere to her side and she tilts her head enough to see the rise and fall of his back. The steady breathing assures her. Who else is here again? Her eyes drift over the area she can see, eyelids drooping now and then from exhaustion. Her head bobs but she tries to pay attention when she spots the person lying against the tree a bit further away. Black Star is still out cold and she’s too far to tell anything else about his condition. 

Maka’s brows furrow, trying to concentrate. Maybe she can sense him with her Quirk?

She jolts a little in her seated position; did she nod off just now? Her eyes try to refocus and Maka blinks at the body curled in her arms and sprawled over her knees. The pale face and pink hair remind her that this is Crona.

Maka smiles and tries to push some uneven bangs from their face, but ends up almost slapping a palm across their forehead. She does  _ not _ have good motor control right now. Rustling noises greet her ears, but her head is so heavy now.

“Maka!” cries a feminine voice filled with worry. Maka wearily drags her head up to see Ms. Marie running towards her. Dr. Stein is behind her, crouching by Black Star. Kid and the Thompsons hover nearby with the school flags tucked under their arms, looking around uncertainly.

Ms. Marie kneels in front of her, pulling her face up and checking her eyes and pulse. “What on earth happened?” the woman asks. Maka can only shrug. “And who is this?”

Maka pulls Crona a little closer when Ms. Marie reaches for them. “Crona, they’re my friend.”

Maka’s voice is scratchy and filled with sleep. Ms. Marie swipes a hand soothingly through her student’s bangs. “I’m not sure I understand, but we’ll take good care of your friend, Maka.”

“Good,” Maka mumbles, ready to fall into the heat of a gentle hand. “Promised Crona. Gotta be here… when they wake up.”

“Of course, dear,” Ms. Marie says, but she sounds far away. “We’ll let you both rest together and then discuss how you became friends. You’re okay, both of you.”

“Soul?” she says. The haze is closing in on her, fuzzy and tempting her to sleep. “Star? Tsu?”

“All fine,” the gentle voice replies. “Rest now.”

“See Crona?” Maka whispers, leaning forward until warm hands guide her to lay down. Crona’s hand is curled in hers. “We’ve… got you.”


End file.
